Trump races to head off another special election debacle

Source: Politico

The White House is scrambling to avoid another special election disaster, this time in a Pennsylvania congressional district in the heart of Trump country.

After a humiliating loss in the Alabama Senate race last month, the administration is drawing up ambitious plans that will kick off next Thursday when Trump travels to the conservative district to appear with Republican candidate Rick Saccone. Vice President Mike Pence and an assortment of Cabinet officials are also expected to make trips; Pence may go twice ahead of the March 13 special election, two administration officials said.

The White House has taken an especially keen interest in the race: Members of Trump's political affairs office met with Saccone this week. And during a Tuesday conference call between the Republican national party committees and the Saccone campaign, White House political director Bill Stepien expressed displeasure with the progress the candidate was making on fundraising. Stepien said Saccone wasnít raising enough money and asked for an update on the campaignís progress in the days to come.

Trumpís visit to the district next week will take him to a manufacturing plant outside Pittsburgh. The president plans to use the ostensibly official trip to promote the recently passed tax reform plan.

1. Yes, trump should

2. Our guys need to hammer Trump and the Repugants hard over how many companies

like Walmart and AT&T have been lying their butts off of touting bonuses and or raises but then trying to use that good PR to hide their firing of thousands soon afterwords and I mean we need to slam them hard over it.

9. By all means! put tRump's face beside this guy!

10. It's not "Trump country" in the PA 18th Congressional District

This is a heavily gerrymandered district that was redrawn as recently as 2012. The ratio of D/R is very evenly spread, almost 50/50. Former representative Tim Murphy R resigned in November because of personal reasons (extramarital affair) and charges of sex discrimination from his staff members.

With a strong candidate in Conor Lamb the Democrats have a good chance to pick up an additional seat in the 2018 House of Representatives. The ultimate solution will be to get these PA congressional districts redrawn after the 2020 census.

15. Let them hype it up as Trump Country. Will make a victory there all the more enjoyable.

18. Yes - I posted this in another thread (re: the coal plant there closing)

The county, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, went strongly for Trump in the 2016 election, with 68.4% voting for Trump and only 28.2% for Clinton.

"They voted for Trump because he said he'd bring back coal. It's not happening," said Zimmerman, a Democrat. "There's not been any significant change in the industry since he's taken over."

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a proposal from the Trump administration earlier this week that would have subsidized power plants like coal and nuclear that maintain a 90-day supply of fuel on site.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry argued there was a need to improve the resilience of the nation's power grid from severe weather. But critics said it was simply a bailout for forms of energy that were no longer economically competitive. Most of the members of FERC had been appointed by Trump.

As a note, this rural county that sits in the corner of SW PA is part of the 18th congressional District where Tim Murphy (R) resigned for rank hypocrisy of being "anti-abortion" yet telling his lover to have an abortion, leaving the seat open for a special election.

16. isnt that the guy who wants to get rid of nancy pelosi as minority leader? nt

20. He said he wouldn't vote for her for leader

Personally, I think the Dems had better options for a candidate, but it was the local Dem committee's choice. Lamb kind of parachuted into the race after Murphy resigned and the primary election had to be scuttled due to timing leaving the choice of candidates to each party's officials. Lamb's uncle, iirc, Michael Lamb, is Pgh's prothonatory and is well-known in the area.

17. I donated; I also just sent this tweet to Joe Biden, who's never lost his Scranton roots:

@JoeBiden Joe, I know you have a busy schedule, but I'm asking you to help fellow Pennsylvanians by endorsing Conor Lamb, who's running for a special election March 13th in Pennsylvainia's 18th Congressional District. Another Democratic win is possible here.